The present invention relates to ultrasonics, more specifically, to the application of ultrasound energy for physical therapy and wound or tissue treatment.
Ultrasound energy has been used for over 50 years as a therapeutic treatment modality in physical therapy and sports medicine. Recently, lower intensity ultrasound has been used to accelerate the healing of bone fractures and both fresh and long term non-healing wounds. For purpose of example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,036 issued to Masuda; U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,603 issued to Yamazaki et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 7,022,089 issued to Ooba et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,864 issued to Duarte et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,690,608 issued to Watanabe et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,544 issued to Young et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,612 issued to Winder et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,360 issued to Duarte; U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,769 issued to Mettler; U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,578 issued to De Groff; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,283,285 issued to Pohlman disclose various therapy apparatus including handpieces containing ultrasound transducers.
It has also been shown that phototherapy, that is, the application of light at different wavelengths, can have a therapeutic effect on skin and underlying tissue. For example, see U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,978 issued to Zharov; U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,713 issued to Russell; U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,883 issued to Alexander et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,503 issued to Bertwell et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,380 issued to Mendes et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,504 issued to Diamantopoulos et al. for various phototherapy treatment apparatus.
Accordingly, medical and cosmetic devices have been built and sold which provide for either treatment modality. With respect to ultrasound devices, it is conventional to position the ultrasound transducer behind an opaque, metal front face of the device that directly contacts the skin of the patient. The conventional faceplate and ultrasound transducer covers the tissue region being treated so that light cannot be readily applied to the same area of skin. Thus, the presence of the front face provides an obstacle to the simultaneous application of ultrasound and light to tissue underlying the front face.
Some therapeutic ultrasound systems include separate ultrasound and light sources (e.g. Hill Therapeutics HF54, BTL Physio BTL-4800SL), so that the operator can conveniently switch between the two treatments. Also see U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,649 issued to Kang which discloses a skin management system that includes various separate handpieces capable of performing different functions. Some of the handpieces include light sources and others include an ultrasound transducer. However, it is not possible to treat with both modalities at the same time with these devices, let alone at the same time on the same volume of tissue.
Some prior art systems have used smaller transducers, or “sound heads,” such that the separate light source can be applied nearby. However, again, these do not allow for simultaneous stimulation by both ultrasound and light over the same tissue region.
Other systems have included a small light aperture in the middle of the transducer, but for these units, the light source is used not for therapy, but as an adjunct to the diagnostic use of the ultrasound. For example, transducers designed for the purpose of measuring the size of the human eye, called A-scan devices, may have a light emitting from their center, so that the patient can be told to look at the light as the probe is placed on the eye (Paradigm Medical P-2000). In this way, the “fixation light” causes the patient to properly hold their gaze, thus allowing the transducer to make proper contact with the corneal surface. This approach is not considered for any therapeutic application of either the ultrasound or the light. Another similar example is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,749 issued to Paladini et al. which discloses an optical needle guide for an ultrasound guided needle biopsy.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,533,803 and 6,761,729 issued to Babaev disclose a handpiece of a treatment device used to deliver a spray of liquid drugs and laser energy to a wound. In use, the handpiece is positioned a spaced distance (about 0.1 inch) from the wound and is activated to simultaneously apply a spray of atomized particles of a drug delivered via ultrasonic waves and a beam of light to the wound.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,804 issued to Rattner discloses an apparatus having an X-ray transparent ultrasound transducer provided as a piezoelectrically activated polymer (PVDF) foil, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,361,509 issued to Reuner discloses a similar device that includes sources for generating acoustic and light waves. The light source emits a focused beam of visible light along the acoustic wave axis for the purpose of making the acoustic axis visible.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0236252 of Muzzi et al. discloses apparatus for treating cellulitus. The apparatus includes a handpiece having a face plate adapted to contact the skin of a patient and provide mechanical message via pulsed suction through a central open channel that extends through the face plate. Simultaneous with the pulsed suction, biostimulation is provided via six laser diodes distributed uniformly on the face plate around the channel opening.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 7,273,459 issued to Desilets et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,000 issued to Chapelon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,396 issued to Takeuchi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,176 issued to Nakaya et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,148 issued to Klicker et al. disclose composite piezoelectric transducers in general.